Rupee falls 9 paise to 68.94 vs USD in early trade

The rupee tumbled 9 paise to trade at 68.94 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday amid unabated foreign fund outflows and rising crude oil prices.

The rupee opened weak at 68.89 at the interbank forex market and slipped further to 68.94, showing a decline of 9 paise against its previous close.

The domestic unit had settled at 68.85 against the US dollar on Tuesday.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out Rs 644.59 crore on Tuesday, provisional data with the exchanges showed.

Meanwhile, brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, climbed 0.87 per cent to USD 65.28 per barrel.

The 10-year government bond yield was at 6.36 per cent in morning trade.

Forex traders said the rupee is trading in a narrow range as market participants are awaiting cues from the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting later on Wednesday.

Besides, market participants were trading cautiously after US President Donald Trump's tweet threatened to disrupt US-China trade talks.

"My team is negotiating with them now, but they always change the deal in the end to their benefit," Trump tweeted.

Meanwhile, domestic bourses opened on a negative note day with benchmark indices Sensex trading 159.13 points down at 37,237.84 and Nifty up 46.50 points at 11,038.90.